How to Make Your Ads Irresistible
Dear Marketing Maven,
Maxim #15 advised you to break your sales process into small, easy steps. Above all, make the first step irresistible.
Here is one of the strongest, most reliable ways I’ve ever found to do this…
Maxim #16:
Make your advertising itself valuable.
In your ad, share valuable information that appeals directly to the heart of your market. Doing so immediately captures the interest of your best prospects while enhancing your credibility.
Today and in future issues of these Maxims, I will share outstanding ads that illustrate the principles I teach. Below is a link to one of the best ads I’ve ever seen. It’s from 60 years ago, but I believe that with a few minor updates, it would also work like a charm today. It was written by a legend I was privileged to work for, David Ogilvy. He and his lieutenants taught me so much when I was a young copywriter, and I’m grateful to this day.
To fully appreciate the ad’s impact, imagine that you are a marketing manager for a major corporation and you’re deeply dissatisfied with your ad agency. Their ads are failing to boost sales, but you don’t know why. You must fix this problem or lose your job. While reading your morning newspaper, you spot this ad (see link below). As soon as you read it, you realize that your current ad agency could never produce such a masterpiece of persuasion.
I especially love this ad’s elegantly understated pitch for new business in the final three paragraphs, below the subhead, “Is This All We Know?”
This ad and a series of others like it propelled Ogilvy & Mather to become one of the largest, most successful ad agencies in the world.
Ken Roman, former CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, notes that people at all levels of marketing and advertising were still requesting reprints ten years after the ad ran—a testament to its powerful impact on the entire industry.
You’ll find this milestone ad here…
Click here for one of my favorite ads by the legendary David OgilvySincere wishes for a good life and (always!) higher response,
Gary Bencivenga
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